Continuous sheet duplicate form



NW. 5, 1940. E HAN 2,220,842

CONTINUOUS SHEET DUPLICATE FORM Filed July 29, 1938 :i: -INVENTOR,

12 100222567 0, I BY ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 5, 1940 Ui'iED STA QF FiCE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to-duplicating books such as the sales bookscommonly used by clerks in department stores where both the original anda carbon copy are required. More specifically the invention relates tofillers for use with a permanent cover or holder. The general type ofdevice in which the inventionis employed is shown and described in apatent issued to the present inventor on July 13, 1937, No. 2,087,144,to-which reference is made for the purpose of showing the state of theprior art.

It is an object of the invention to providea filler of the characterdescribed which willpermit rapid manipulation by the user and which willalso be of such a construction that the filler is retained by the coverthroughout the use of the "bookwithout danger of slipping out of place.

More specifically the filler-is of the type which comprises continuousduplicate forms having lines of weakness at their upper edges wherebysuccessive pairs of forms may beseparated from the rest of the strip ofcontinuous forms and removed from the cover andwhich have openings orapertures near their upper edges, that is near the lines of weakness,through which thezposts of the cover pass and whereby'the filler is heldin place in the cover. 'One of the'undesirable features commonlyencountered in such a. construction is the tendency for thepairs ofsheets to separate or tear apart along a path different 'from the lineof weakness. This deviation is caused by the apertures or openings'whichprovide anopportunity for the path of tearing to jump across theaperture and continue at the-other-side of the aperture along a pathneither intended nor'desired. It is therefore a further object of theinvention to provide means for-insuring the proper separation of thesheets even with the necessary apertures positioned near the edges. Morespecifically it is an object of the invention to modify the line ofweakness for a substantial distance ateach side of the-aperture-byslitting the paper or severing it completely so that there will benotendency for the tear to deviate from the intended line of severance.

It is also an important object of the invention to provide a fillerhaving the general characteristics and advantages already set forth.which shall be inexpensive to manufacture and which can be sold atprices competitive with. devices of the same general character but nothaving the advantages of the present invention.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will readily appear tothose skilled in the art to which it appertains' by a consideration ofto being placed in a holder;

the following description of one embodiment" thereof taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a-plan view of acontinuous duplicate form sales book showing three of the sheetsWithdrawn from the book preparatory to detaching two of them;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of several of the sheets in zigzag foldedarrangement preparatory Fig. 3 1s a plan view to an enlarged scaleshowing the type of separation used at the top' of the sheets; and rFig. 4 is a plan view of the book-drawn to "an enlarged scale and showsthe appearance of the sheets just afterone'set of the-forms has beenwithdrawn from theholder and While the sheets are still not far fromtheir original position in the holder.

Referring to the drawing more in detail the reference character IIindicatesthe-top sheet of a packet of forms and since it carries' on itsface theoriginal copy of the recordrather than a carbon copy it mayhereinafter'be referred to as .an original form. The nextform isdesignat'ed;; 5 by the reference characterl2 and since its record isonly a carboncopy or duplicate recorditmay hereinafter be referred to asa duplicate-form or duplicate sheet. The original form. ll and theduplicate form H! are joined togetheriat their v bottom edges. Thenextform or sheet is another .orginal form it and is joined at its topedge to the duplicate form .12. W is joined at its bottom edge to thebottom edge of its duplicate.form I4. In like manner the top 335 edge ofsheet I dis-joined to the top edge of .an

The original form 13 original form l5 and the, bottom edge. of

.originalform I5 is joined to thebottomedge of form-i6 only a smallpart-of which .can be-seen .in-Fig. 2.

' 1:40 The manner in which thedifferentsheets or forms. arejoinedtogetherat their lower edges, the

.there being a line of weakness at. each edge indi- .cated at l9..and.20 .and also inthe middle indi- .catedatZ l with .aslit extendingbetweeneach side portion and the middle portion and indicated .by

Y the reference. characters .-22 and ,23 respectively.

While, for the sake of clearness in the drawing, the slits 22 and 23 areshown as being of a very small but nevertheless of a very definite widthit is to be understood that theseslits may be merely a slitting orsevering of the paper without actually removing any material or givingto the slit any definite width.

Both the original forms and the duplicate forms are provided at theirupper edges with apertures for engagement with posts in the book orholder in which the packet of forms is carried. Each of the originalforms H, l3, l5, etc., is provided with an aperture 24 near its upperedge and near the left-hand edge of the form for engagement with theleft-hand post of the holder and with an aperture 25 near the right-handedge of the form for engagement with the right-hand post of the holder.Each of the duplicate forms is also provided near its upper edge withapertures 25 and 21, near the left-hand edge and near the right-handedge of the form respectively.

It will be observed that the left-hand apertures 24 and 26 arepositioned with their centers the same distance from the left-hand edgeof the form as the middle of the left-hand slit 22. Similarly theright-hand apertures 25 and 21 are positioned with their centers thesame distance from the right-hand edge of the form as the middle of theright-hand slit 23.

While the apertures in the original forms and the apertures in theduplicate forms are not just alike they both have the commoncharacteristic of beingdirectly connected with their respective slits sothat they can be pulled away from the posts of the holder without thenecessity of any tearing. The apertures 24 and 25, in the originalforms, are somewhat larger in diameter than the apertures 26 and 21 andare positioned closer than tangential to the slits 22 and 23respectively, i. e., the slit 22 cuts across the circular aperture 24segmentally rather than touching it tangentially thereby leaving anopening 28 between the aperture 24 and the slit 22 fully as wide as thepost in the holder which engages the apertures. A similar constructionand corresponding opening 29 are to be found between the right-handaperture 25 and right-hand slit 23.

The left-hand aperture 26 in each of the duplicate forms, is somewhatsmaller in diameter than the aperture 24 and is spaced back away fromthe slit 22 and is connected thereto by means of a slot 30 giving to thecombined aperture and slot a keyhole appearance. The right-hand aperture21 is connected to the slit 23 by means of a similar slot 3|. While 30and 3! have been shown and described as slots it is to be understoodthat they may be merely slits in the paper.

There is shown in Fig. 1 the backboard 32 of a holder or cover having aleft-hand post 33 and a right-hand post 34. Such a cover usually hassome sort of clamp engaging the tops of the re- 7 spective posts 33 and34 to assist in holding the packet in place but as such clamps are oldand no part of the present invention none has been shown in the drawingin order that there may be a clearer view of the sheets in theconstruction of which the present invention does reside.

In operation the zigzag continuous form, as shown in Fig. 2, is foldedup and placed on the holder, the posts 33 and 34 receiving the apertures24, 26 and 25, 21 respectively. Preferably some type of clamp, notshown, engages the top of the posts 33 and 34 to assist in holding thepacket in place. A sheet of carbon paper is understood to be in positionbetween the forms and I2. After a sale has been made and properlyrecorded on the original form I with a corresponding record on theduplicate form l2 the sales person withdraws the two forms H and I2 sothat the appearance of the device is as shown in Fig. 1. The pair ofsheets H and I2 are then separated from the succeeding sheets l3, etc.,by pulling downwardly and laterally either to the right or to the leftwhichever is more convenient. The severance takes place along thesuccessive lines of weakness l9, 2| and 20. The close juxtaposition ofthe apertures 22, 24, 26 and 21 and the slots 30 and 3| to the line ofseverance does not give rise to any tendency to tear incorrectly sincethe slits 22 and 23 prevent any such incorrect tearing.

After the sheets H and I2 have been removed from the holder they are,either at this time or later, as the case may be, separated from eachother and sent along through the channels of the store routine while theoriginal form I3 is folded back along the line I? into place on top ofthe packet ready for another sale and record thereof.

It may be well to state that the carbon sheet which is shorter than thesales sheets is usually provided with an apertured reinforcement and isheld in place by the posts 33 and 34 so that the withdrawal of thesheets ll, l2 and I3 leaves it in place on top of the packet and on topof the sheet 4 and consequently beneath the original form 3 when thatsheet has been folded back onto the top of the packet.

While the apertures 24 and 25 in the sheet could be of the same form asthe keyhole apertures in the sheet l2 the form of the apertures 24 and25 shown in the drawing is considered somewhat more desirable because ofthe fact that each time the sheets are detached the top sheet, i. e., anoriginal form such as 3, is placed back on top of the packet and theapertures therein reengage the posts 33 and 34. By having a segmentalportion of the circle 24 merge with the slit 22 there is provided anopening 28 somewhat larger than the diameter of the post 32 and it cantherefore be readily slipped into place without the necessity of liftingup the clamp which engages the top of the posts 33 and 34. Such a typeof construction is not necessary for the duplicate sheets beacuse theyare not replaced on the holder but remain withdrawn. It is to be notedthat the slots 30 and 3| permit the sheets l3 and l5'to be withdrawnreadily by the exercise of a slight force which bends or curls thetongues of paper at each side of the slots and yet these same tonguesofier enough resistance to such withdrawal to keep the packet as a wholein place even though half the sheets, that is. all the original forms,have apertures so shaped that they aiford no aid in keeping the packetin place.

While the hereinbefore described embodiment of the invention has beenset forth in more or less detail it is to be understood that variouschanges may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined in the subjoined claim.

I claim:

A continuous strip of duplicate forms folded zigzag into a pack so thatthe junction between successive sheets occur alternately at the top andthe bottom of the sheets, said sheets being in sets of one original formand one duplicate form, the two sheets of each set having a line ofjunction therebetween at their bottom edges and said original formshaving a plurality of apertures near its top edge in register with aplurality of apertures positioned in the corresponding duplicate formlying beneath and near the edge thereof, each of the apertures in saidduplicate form having the shape of a keyhole and so positioned that thelarger portion is back away from said junction line and is connectedthereto by the slot portion of said keyhole, the apertures in each ofsaid original forms being of somewhat greater diameter thanthe largerportion of its corresponding keyhole aperture and so positioned as to beintercepted segmentally by the line of junction to afford an openingfrom said junction line into said aperture as large as said largerportion of the corresponding keyhole aperture,

mainder of said junction line.

EDWARD HANO.

